TOWNE, FRANCIS (1740–1816), landscape-painter, was born in 1740, apparently in London. He studied under William Pars, and gained a prize at the Society of Arts in 1759. In 1762 he was a member of the Free Society of Artists. He exhibited drawings in watercolour at the Royal Academy in 1775, and in 1779 ‘View on the Exe’ and some others, his residence then being in Exeter. About this time he went to Italy, and exhibited views taken there and in Switzerland until 1794, but he seems to have been resident in London, where he died at his house in Devonshire Street on 7 July 1816. He exhibited in London twenty-seven works at the Royal Academy, sixteen at the Society of Artists, three at the Free Society, and ten at the British Institute. He enjoyed a considerable reputation as a landscape-painter.